FUN IN THE MUD!!!

WOW! That is all I can say about this. We offer up a great big Thank you to Uncle Dave for inviting us to come play in the mudpit! I have to say the most surprising part of the day was not how long it took to rinse all that mud out of Bens long hair, it was not even how mud sneaks into every crevice of your body,the most surprising part of the day was that Emma,the mud princess from last yer, refused the prime oppurtunity to play in some quality mud. She said"I dont want to have to wash my hair" When did she turn into a girl?????? I just have to throw in a picture of Emma last year in the front yard to remind those of you who may have forgotten what Emma's favorite pastime of last summer was. I mean her excuse for swimming in the front yard was "The pool is too dirty"!!!!! When did this happen??????? Has my little girl grown up right before my very eyes and I didnt even notice????When did this happen???
P.S for those of you that may be thinking to yourself" That is not very smart to let a boy who has stitches in his face get this covered in mud, you are just begging for an infection" just relax....this was the day before the fateful dog attack.

Emma last year in Lake Front Yard!!!!!

BENS ANGELS!!!!!!!

Today was such a long day but here at the end of the day I am just so incredibly grateful that all three of my kids are tucked safe and sound into their beds. This morning my little animal lover Ben was trying to help a couple of neighborhood dogs back into their fence and one of the dogs aparently did not want help getting back into their fence and lunged at Bens face and attacked him.Ben pushed him off and the dog lunged at him again. Ben grabbed the only thing on the dog that he could reach which was his ear and squeezed as hard as he possibly could and the dog backed off and Ben ran home.

After nine stitches and a lot of trauma ( for him and Mom) he is safe and sound in his bed at home tonight. He started crying on the way home from the hospital and said "Mommy I was so scared, he was going for my neck so I tucked my chin into my chest I didnt know what else to do". What happened to my little boys face was bad but it could have been so much worse. Now that it is quiet and everyone is tucked into bed It has really hit me and I realized how scared I was. I usually am totally in control and take everything in stride but to see my little boy in that much pain and bleeding like that and to see his face torn up like that just simply broke my heart.It was so great of Brenda to come up to the hospital to be there to help talk Ben throught everything . I did not realize how much I needed a little support till she showed up. All I can say is I am so very grateful for "Bens angels".

FOURTH OF JULY

First of all I want you to enjoy these pictures of the beautiful fireworks that we enjoyed on the fourth of July. Ben took pictures of the fireworks for Aunt Jilly because she worked all day and was not able to come watch fireworks with us so Ben did not want her to miss out. So here you go Aunt Jilly!!!!

Our fourth of July was pretty non eventful. We cooked out,ate some ice cream cake took a bike ride and were treated to a visit from our Aunt Hope bearing gifts of delicious ice cream treats> seriously Hope how did you drive with three ice cream cones in your car........

Here we are after we donned our patriotic makeup and headed up to the best snow cone stand in town for some icy treats and a great firework display. Even though the fireworks were not as exciting as last years up and close and personal display they were still amazing in a safe far away kind of way.

Jonnies patriotic hairdo

After painting their faces I agreed to let my kids paint my face.
Emma and Bailey

When did I lose control of my life?

I believe it was about 11:00p.m last night when I really started to ask myself that question. After countless times of saying "You better not get up again" and "stop talking now" to my children who apparently think that summer break means that nobody requires sleep anymore, i hear a blood curdling scream and pounding and crying coming from my boys room. I jumped to my tired feet and ran into their room to find them franically hitting the hamster cage and crying "Jonnies hamster is trying to kill Bens hamster" (Yes in case that was a detail that I forgot to mention we now have three hamsters. THat is just one more of the reasons that led me to question my present sanity.) As I was trying to seperate two little rats who apparently have grown vicious in a matter of hours and I was trying to find a makeshift cage for the instigator of the rumble I began to ask myself the question "when did I lose control of my life" I finished up about 11:30p.m when I finally found a hamster ball without a lid that I wedged in a corner so it couldnt roll and after placing bedding for the little monster in it realized that it could lift the ball up over its head and escape. Now this did not seem like a bad idea to me because for those of you that know me know that I really do not like hamster,fish,snakes,turtles,and really any other kind of animal that people bring inside and call a pet. However since these are my kids beloved pets I realized I had to do something. The only thing in the room that seemed remotely heavy enough to keep the ball from rolling was Jonnies Bible. Wow! I guess the Bible saved the night for me! I mean I was so happy that God had chosen to say so much to us in his great book because it made it really heavy...heavy enough to keep one little rat inside a clear rolling ball for 7 hours straight so I could get some much needed rest. For those of you who think this is sacreligious you really should keep that opinion to yourself until you have been on your hands and knees at 11:30 p.m looking for a hamster ball lid. I know the Bible is good for sooo much more than that but last night that is what I was grateful for. I fell into bed exhausted and just started laughing and really asked myself "When did I lose control of my life?"
However today Jonnie and Sterling( our adopted son from down the street) painted these pictures for me.